Motor vehicle navigation system

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus to display a geographical picture on a screen ( 36 ) of a monitor ( 30 ), which is connected over a data bus ( 3 ) to a first computer ( 1 ). The invention specifies that the first computer ( 1 ) furnishes abstract data (a, c, f), determined on a geographical basis, to the data bus ( 3 ), and that these data (a, c, f) are processed in a second computer ( 31 ) situated in the monitor ( 30 ), for the visual display of a picture on the screen ( 36 ) of the monitor ( 30 ).

PRIORITY INFORMATION

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 09/801,104 filed Mar. 6,2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,162,364.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of motor vehicle navigationsystems, and in particular to a motor vehicle navigation system thatincludes a modular display computing system for presenting navigationaldata to a motor vehicle user.

Navigation systems are increasingly being used in motor vehicles. Thesesystems generally include: (i) a control unit for entering the startinglocation, any intermediate destinations, and the final destination; (ii)a data medium for storing navigational data (e.g., information todisplay road maps); (iii) a navigation computer to plan/compute theroute and provide guidance to the destination; (iv) a data processingunit to process the route data into picture information; and (v) adisplay to display road maps, position information, destinationinformation, etc. The navigation system also includes a plurality ofsensors to determine the vehicle position, speed, orientation, et ceteraand provide that information to the navigation computer. The individualcomponents of the navigation system communicate over a data bus. Thedata processing unit often includes a picture memory that stores pictureinformation.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,252 entitled “Navigation System for an AutomotiveVehicle” discloses a navigation system that includes a data inputdevice, a GPS signal receiver, a direction sensor, a distance sensor,and a traffic information receiver. Data from these components are inputto a microcontroller that plans the route. The microcontroller retrievesmap information (e.g., road maps) from a CD-ROM. The route data computedby the microcontroller are then displayed on a CRT, which is alsoconnected to the microcomputer. Notably, road map information cannot bedisplayed directly, but first must be transformed by the microcontrollerinto picture information suitable for presentation on the CRT.

Newer navigation units provide the user with the ability to select thepicture section for displaying, using for example zoom or scrollfunctions. In addition, information indicative of the direction andmotion of the motor vehicle is frequently shown on the road mapsappearing on the display. User commands (e.g., zoom and/or scroll) andsystem demands (e.g., vehicle motion) regularly changes the displaypicture information, and thus the display picture information must becontinuously updated in order to present the user with accurateinformation indicative of the current motor vehicle position.

Prior art navigational systems require that road map information beretrieved by the navigation computer for each displayed picture, andplaced into intermediate storage in the picture memory.

Published European patent application EP 0 306 088 A1 entitled “VehicleNavigation Device with Reproduction of a Selected Map Element Accordingto a Predetermined Representation Standard” discloses a new generationnavigation device. In this navigation device, the individual componentsare connected over a data bus. Such a linkage is customary in so-calledlinked driver information systems. The advantage of such linked driverinformation systems is that a plurality of individual components can belinked to the data bus line. For example, a display may be used not onlyto display navigation data, road maps, etc., but, for example, can alsoindicate a defect in the vehicle or the like.

The navigation device described in the published application EP 0 306088 A1 includes a data bus, a data memory in which a large number ofroad maps and navigation data are stored, a navigation computer to planthe route, and a data processing unit that processes data into pictureinformation. The data processing unit includes a picture memory to storethe picture information. The navigation device also includes a displayconnected to the data processing unit to display picture information,and a communication block with a control unit for entering the startingposition, intermediate destinations, and/or the final destination.

In such a system, the picture information of each road map is loadedindividually into the picture memory. Such picture information is alwaystransferred over the bus line. If the user wants to change, for example,the current screen display, or if the motion of the vehicle causespicture information to change, road map information must be transferredfrom the data memory to the picture memory to provide the proper datafor display. For a screen display with sufficient picture refreshcycles, the data bus must have a large bandwidth, which generally isoften not available. An additional problem is that the data bus isneeded almost exclusively for transferring picture information, andtherefore other information or data cannot be transferred, or can betransferred only serially during the remaining interim times.

Furthermore, a continuous and thus flowing display of geographicalcontents is not assured, because the screen shows only the datatransferred over the data bus, and the data capacity that can betransferred on the bus is limited. Because the capacity of the bus islimited and because of the bus latency times, scroll or zoom operations,for instance, often cause dramatic picture changes that are perceived astroublesome by the viewer.

A problem with these prior art systems is that the geographical map forthe display is calculated by the navigation computer. The data for thecomplete map to be displayed are transferred into a planar coordinatesystem corresponding to the display surface and are then sent by thenavigation computer over the data bus to the display. With previouslyknown systems, the monitor operates passively (i.e., only the receiveddata are visualized). That is, there is no “intelligent” processing ofthe received data.

Therefore, there is a need for an improved motor vehicle navigationsystem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, according to an aspect of the present invention, a motorvehicle navigation system includes a position sensor that senses thegeographical position of the navigation system and provides a firstnavigation system position signal indicative thereof. The system alsoincludes a navigation computing unit that receives the first navigationsystem position signal, and transmits onto a data bus (i) a firstposition signal indicative of the position of a trip starting location,(ii) a second position signal indicative of a trip destination location,and (iii) the received navigation system position signal. A monitor unitreceives the first position signal, the second position signal, and thereceived navigation system position signal. The monitor unit alsoreceives map data from a map memory device. The monitor processes thisreceived data to generate initial image data including map dataindicative of the trip starting location, the trip destination and thecurrent position of the navigation system, and presents on a displaywithin the motor vehicle an initial image indicative of the initialimage data.

The monitor unit may include a road map memory for storing road mapinformation. This road map memory stores the information that hasalready been transmitted from the navigation computing unit. Thisinformation, which is now locally available in the monitor unit, isavailable for picture display as needed without requiring communicationwith the navigation computer. Not until picture information is to bedisplayed, which is available only in the data memory connected to thedata bus, is access to the navigation computer and thus to the data busnecessary, since the data bus is responsible for transmitting thenecessary information. This newly transmitted information will displacethe outmoded and no longer necessary information from the road mapmemory of the monitor, as necessary.

In general, modularization facilitates expansion or replacement ofindividual components. The maximum measure of flexibility in this regardis achieved by the invention in that the navigation computer and themonitor are designed as modules, each of which separately has amicroprocessor/computer.

Since a vehicle normally moves continuously, suitable data management inthe monitor unit may detect at an early stage what road map informationwill subsequently be needed due to the vehicle motion. This can berequested from the navigation computer prospectively (look-aheadprinciple), so that more time is available for its transmission. Thisalso helps to reduce the need for bandwidth on the data bus, and thuscorrespondingly relieves the network.

The data bus is preferably configured and arranged as a “Media OrientedSynchronous Transfer” (MOST) bus or as a “Multi Media Link” (MML) bus.In combination with the modular structure of the present invention,standardized buses such as these ensure that the inventive navigationsystem can easily be integrated into nearly all current vehicle brands.

The monitor may include one or more control elements responsive to inputuser requests or to change the current picture information. It makes nodifference here whether this information is directly conducted to thenavigation computer or via the data bus.

The system may also include a sensor block that includes a plurality ofsensors to detect position data. For example, a position sensor detectsthe instantaneous actual position, and/or a direction sensor detectsinstantaneous orientation of the vehicle, and a speedometer and/ortachometer can also be present.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent in light of the following detaileddescription of preferred embodiments thereof, as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustration of a motor vehicle navigationsystem; and

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustration of processing steps associated withforming an image for presentation to a motor vehicle occupant.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustration of a motor vehicle navigationsystem 100. The navigation system 100 includes a navigation computingunit 1, a data memory 2, a monitor unit 30, and various other components7, each connected to a data bus 3 (e.g., an optical bus such as a MOSTor MML bus). The navigation computer 1 is connected to a mass storagemedium 50 (e.g., a CD drive) in order to retrieve road map informationstored thereon. The navigation system 100 receives data signals from aspeedometer 11, a direction sensor 12, a position sensor 13, and atachometer 14. The monitor unit 30 includes an internal computer 31, amemory device 32, a display 36, and control elements 38.

The road map information in the navigation computer 1 is present as ageographical coordinate system (e.g., the WGS 84 coordinate system). Thenavigation computer 1 accesses such a geographical coordinate system forexample through the above-mentioned mass storage unit 50. To generate amap to be displayed on the display 36 of the monitor unit 30, thenavigation computer 1 transmits geographic data and additional necessaryinformation to the monitor unit 30. Notably, the amount of transmitteddata is less than that transmitted in known transmission methods.Significantly, the monitor unit 30 receives the data and generates theimage to be presented on the display 36.

For example, if the motor vehicle operator wants to drive from place Ato place B, data to identify these places must first be entered into thenavigation computer 1 (e.g., via the control elements 38). When thenavigation computer 1 knows the places A and B, the navigation computer1 requests the geographic data of places A and B from its memory, orfrom the above-mentioned mass storage 50. In addition, the navigationcomputer 1 determines the roads located between places A and B. Thenavigation computer 1 then transmits the following data to the monitorunit 30, if world coordinates are used for the geographical data:

(a) longitude and latitude of place A;

(b) instruction that a place symbol belongs at the long/lat of place A;

(c) longitude and latitude of place B;

(d) instruction that a place symbol belongs at the long/lat of place B;

(e) instruction that a throughway runs between (a) and (c);

(f) longitude and latitude of the vehicle location; and

(g) instruction that a vehicle symbol belongs at the long/lat of thevehicle location.

Using data elements (a)-(g) received via the data bus 3, the monitorunit computer 31 generates an image to be presented on the display 36 byprocessing the geographical coordinates received over the data bus 3.For example, the image may be generated by placing two points for theplaces A and B on the display 36. Place symbols are then superposed onthese points, and then the throughway between place A and B is drawn.Finally, a vehicle symbol is superposed on the location of the display36 that corresponds to the current position of the vehicle. Naturally,these steps happen so fast that a viewer has the impression that allsymbols appear on the picture simultaneously. Furthermore, the monitorunit computer 31 may build up the picture in the background, and thepicture can be displayed only when it has been calculated in thecomputer of the monitor unit 30.

Advantageously, in contrast to conventional motor vehicle navigationsystems, the navigation system of the present invention transmits lessdata over the data bus 3 when the vehicle moves. For example, as thevehicle moves the navigation computer 1 simply transmits the newgeographical coordinates of the vehicle position over the data bus 3 tothe monitor unit 30. The vehicle symbol on the screen is then superposedby the monitor unit computer 31 at the geographical coordinatesassociated with the current position of the motor vehicle. As a result,less information is required to be transmitted over the bus from thenavigation computer 1 to the monitor unit 30. In contrast, in prior artmotor vehicle navigation systems the data for the vehicle symbol wouldalso have to be regularly transmitted from a navigation computer to adisplay, over a data bus. Similarly, other remaining symbols displayedon the screen (e.g., place, throughway, interstate highway, waterways,city names, river names, etc., etc.) would have to be regularlytransmitted by the navigation computer over the data bus forpresentation on the display in order to provide an accurate display. Themonitor unit 30 includes memory in which the symbols and charactersnecessary for displaying a picture are stored.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the navigation computer1 transmits initial trip information over the data bus 3 to the monitordisplay unit 30. The monitor unit 30 processes the received tripinformation to form an image that illustrates the starting position ofthe trip, the destination, the route of the trip and the currentposition of the motor vehicle. As the motor vehicle moves, thenavigation computer 1 periodically transmits data indicative of thecurrent position (e.g., longitude and latitude) of the vehicle locationto the monitor unit 30. The monitor computing unit 31 then superposes asymbol indicative of the vehicle at the geographical coordinatesassociated with the current position of the motor vehicle, and providesthis new image for presentation on the screen 36.

Advantageously, the navigation system of the present inventionfacilitates the reduction of the data bus transmission bandwidth,modularizes functions between the navigation computer and the monitorunit(s), and allows more than one display to be used based on the samedata.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustration of processing steps 200 associatedwith forming an image for presentation to a motor vehicle occupant. Whena new request (e.g., user request B and/or system request S) occurs, atest 202 is performed to determine whether a new picture is required.For example, if the new vehicle position and/or orientation differsinsignificantly from the information being displayed to the motorvehicle occupant in the current image, it is unnecessary to calculate anew picture, since the differences from the current situation would notbe visible within the framework of the given resolution. In this case,processing of the new request terminates.

If test 202 determines that the differences are not insignificant, themonitor unit computer 31 performs tests 204 to determine whether theinformation required to calculate the new picture information is presentin the memory 32 (FIG. 1). This situation can occur for example, due toprevious requests B, S. If this is the case, the new picture informationcan be calculated immediately by the monitor computing unit 31, storedin the memory 32, and displayed on the screen 36. However, if the test204 determines that new map information must first be loaded from thenavigation computer 1 over the data bus 3, the monitor unit 30 requeststhe necessary map information in step 206. In response to the requestthe navigation computer 1 sends the requested information over the databus to the monitor unit 30, which is received and stored in steps 208,210, respectively. The requested information includes formattedgeographical coordinates, with additional parameters specifying thesegeographical coordinates (town, street, water bodies, etc.). Incontrast, prior art navigation systems transmit the map information aswhole pages (entire maps). Significantly, the present inventiontransmits only the geographical longitude and latitude together withadditional parameters, thus reducing the bus load.

Following step 210, all the map information that is currently needed isnow present in the monitor unit 30. Step 212 is then performed togenerate new picture information in the monitor computing device 31,store the new picture information in the memory 32, and display the newpicture information on the screen 36.

Although the present invention has been shown and described with respectto several preferred embodiments thereof, various changes, omissions andadditions to the form and detail thereof, may be made therein, withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1. A navigation system for use in a motor vehicle, comprising: aposition sensor that senses the geographic position of the navigationsystem and provides a first navigation system position signal indicativethereof; a data bus; a navigation computing unit that receives the firstnavigation system position signal, and transmits onto the data bus (i) afirst position signal indicative of the position of a trip startinglocation, (ii) a second position signal indicative of a trip destinationlocation, and (iii) the first navigation system position signal; amonitor unit that includes a memory device that includes map data; amonitor computing unit that receives from the data bus (i) the firstposition signal, (ii) the second position signal and (iii) the firstnavigation system position signal, and accesses the memory device togenerate initial image data including map data indicative of the tripstarting location, the trip destination and the current position of thenavigation system; and a display device responsive to the image data, todisplay an initial image indicative of the image data; where thenavigation computing unit receives a second navigation position signalindicative of a new position of the navigation system and transmits thesecond navigation position signal over the data bus to the monitorcomputing unit, which generates revised image data including map dataindicative of the trip destination and the updated position of thenavigation system, which is provided for display on the display device.2. The navigation system of claim 1, where the position sensor comprisesa global position satellite (GPS) receiver.
 3. The navigation system ofclaim 2, where the first position signal and the second position signaleach include longitude and latitude position data.
 4. The navigationsystem of claim 1, where the navigation computing unit also transmits tothe monitor computing unit via the data bus (iv) an instruction that aplace symbol belongs at the map location associated with the tripstarting location, and (v) an instruction that a place symbol belongs atthe map location associated with the trip destination location.
 5. Thenavigation system of claim 4, where the navigation computing unit alsotransmits to the monitor computing unit via the data bus (vi) aninstruction that a throughway runs between the trip starting locationand the trip destination location.
 6. The navigation system of claim 5,where the first and second position signals each include geographic dataformatted in accordance with the WGS 84 Standard.
 7. A motor vehiclenavigation system, comprising: a position sensor that senses thegeographical position of the navigation system and provides a firstnavigation system position signal indicative thereof; a data bus; anavigation computing unit that receives the first navigation systemposition signal, and transmits onto the data bus (i) a first positionsignal indicative of the position of a trip starting location, (ii) asecond position signal indicative of a trip destination location, and(iii) the first navigation system position signal; a road map memorydevice that includes map data; means responsive to (i) the firstposition signal, (ii) the second position signal and (iii) the firstnavigation system position signal and the map data, for generatinginitial image data including map data indicative of the trip startinglocation, the trip destination and the current position of thenavigation system; and a display that displays an initial imageindicative of the initial image data.
 8. The motor vehicle navigationsystem of claim 7, where the navigation computing unit receives a secondnavigation position signal indicative of a new position of thenavigation system and transmits the second navigation position signalover the data bus to the means for generating, which generates revisedimage data including map data indicative of the trip destination and theupdated position of the navigation system, which is provided for displayon the display.
 9. The motor vehicle navigation system of claim 8, wherethe position sensor comprises a global position satellite (GPS)receiver.
 10. The motor vehicle navigation system of claim 9, where thedata bus comprises a Media Oriented Synchronous Transfer (MOST) bus. 11.The motor vehicle navigation system of claim 9, where the data buscomprises a Multi Media Link (MML) bus.
 12. The motor vehicle navigationsystem of claim 7, where the navigation computing unit computes a travelroute between the trip starting location and the trip destination, andtransmits a signal indicative of the travel route to the means forgenerating over the data bus.
 13. A method of generating an image fordisplay by a motor vehicle navigation system that includes a navigationcomputing unit, a data bus and a monitor unit, comprising: sensing thegeographical position of the navigation system and providing a firstnavigation system position signal indicative thereof; transmitting ontothe data bus from the navigation computing unit (i) a first positionsignal indicative of the trip starting location, (ii) a second positionsignal indicative of a trip destination location, and (iii) the firstnavigation system position signal; receiving at the monitor unit thefirst position signal, the second position signal, and the firstnavigation system position signal; generating, at the monitor unit,initial image data including map data indicative of the trip startinglocation, the trip destination location and the current position of thenavigation system; and displaying an initial image indicative of theinitial image data.